Adjustable wrench



1968 M. H. FELDMAN ETAL ADJUSTABLE WRENCH Filed Aug.

FIG. I

INVENTOR. MARSHALL H. FELDMAN BY HARRY W. FELDMAN ATTORNEYS N pole of magnet [2 Spole of United States Patent Ofiice 3,370,490 Patented Feb. 27, 1968 3,370,490 ADJUSTABLE WRENCH Marshall H. Feldman, P.0. Box 922, Twentynine Palms,

Calif. 92277, and Harry W. Feldman, 16016 Winterbrook Drive, Los Gatos, Calif. 95030 Filed Aug. 5, 1966, Ser. No. 570,520 Ciaims. (Cl. 81-125) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An adjustable wrench, one or both of the jaws of which may be provided with magnets to facilitate adjustment of the wranch to accommodate the work and increase the gripping action thereof. Several embodiments of the wrench are disclosed and all employ a straight shank supporting the movable jaw. The shank is slidable parallel to the body of the wrench in a pivoted recessed member which is pivotally attached to the body adjacent the fixed jaw so that when a workpiece is gripped in the jaws, the movable jaw and pivoted member are rotated forward through a small angle and the shank is gripped by friction in the recessed member.

This invention relates to adjustable wrenches in general. More particularly, this invention relates to adjustable wrenches having magnetic means for attracting the jaws thereof against the work.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved adjustable wrench in which the jaws are magnetized so that they will be attracted to magnetic material and will be held in firm engagement therein.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved adjustable wrench for use on iron pipe and like objects, the wrench having magnetic elements comprising the jaws thereof or set into the jaws thereof so that the jaws are attracted to the iron object with which the wrench is used, whereby the wrench is held in positive engagement with the pipe or like object during use thereof.

Other and further objects of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which it relates from the following specification, claims and drawing in which,

FIG. 1 of the drawing shows a plan view partially in section of an adjustment wrench of this invention, with part of the handle thereof broken away;

FIG. 2 is a side view, partially in section, of a modified form of this wrench showing part thereof broken away;

FIG. 3 is a side view partially in section of another modified form of this wrench;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 55 of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawing in detail, reference numeral designates the handle portion of this adjustable wrench. The handle 10 is provided with a recessed portion 11 at one end thereof for receiving the magnet element 12 which forms the fixed jaw. If desired, the handle 10 and the jaw 12 may be made integral of material such as steel or the like, and the jaw portion may be magnetized. Rivets or screws 12a are provided extending through suitable holes in the handle member and magnet element 12 for holding the latter in the recess 11. The handle 10 may be provided with a rubber or plastic gripping surface in which the lower part of the handle is encased for more eflicient gripping thereof during use of the wrench.

The fixed jaw 12 is provided with a hole 13 for receiving the spring 14 and plunger 14a. Hollow projecting member 15 extends laterally from the upper end of the handle.

Member 16 is sli-dably positioned in the hollow projecting member 15. The outer side of the member 16 is provided with a series of teeth 17 which are adapted to engage the pin 15:: that is attached to member 15. The spring 14 presses the plunger 14a against member 16 and causes teeth 17 to engage pin 15a. The inner side of member 16 is fiat and is adapted to lie against the adjacent side of the handle.

The upper jaw 18 is provided with a projecting portion 18:: which is fitted into a corresponding recess 16a formed in the member 16 and is held therein by the pins or screws 19. The jaw 18 comprises a detachable magnet element, however, it may be made integral with the member 16 and both the jaw 18 and member 16 may be made of material such as steel.

The fixed jaw 12 may be provided with a wafer of magnetic material such as Alnico or the like which is oriented so that the upper free surface thereof is a south pole. Likewise, the adjustable jaw 18 may be provided with a magnetic wafer 18b which is oriented so that the lower face thereof is a north pole, for example. These poles may of course be reversed, if desired. The magnetic wafers may be attached to the jaws 12 and 18 by suitable cements such as epoxy resin, machine screws, solder or the like.

The parts 12, 16 and 18 of the wrench form a U-shaped or horseshoe type magnet with magnetic lines of force threading between the N and S faces of the jaws through the iron pipe 20. This magnetic field causes the jaws 12 and 18 of the wrench to be held in firm engagement with the pipe 20.

The jaws 12 and 18 of the wrench may be made of suitable steel which has a high magnetic retentivity, or they may be made of suitable alloys such as Alnico, magnetic ceramic material or the like. On the other hand, only the wafers referred to above of the jaws need be fabricated in this fashion as the remaining parts of the jaws need not be highly magnetized. Also, the free surface portions of the jaws may be made of steel and suitable magnet wafers may be positioned between these surface portions and the remaining parts of the jaws so that these magnet wafers are sandwiched between the tough steel jaw portions and the main portions of the jaws. The sandwich assembly may be held together by machine screws, cement such as epoxy resin, solder or the like. Thus, in this arrangement the tough steel jaw surfaces may be replaced after showing wear and the magnet wafers retained for other use.

Other embodiments of this invention are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 in which the wrench is provided with a U-shaped member 21 that is attached to the upper part of the handle and the lower part of the jaw 12 by the bolt 22. This U-shaped member is provided to the wrench shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 to take the place of the laterally extending hollow projection 15, as shown in FIG. 1, and the member 23-, which slidably supports the upper jaw 18 on the body of the wrench, is slidable in this U-shaped member. The member 23 shown in FIG. 2 is provided with a series of teeth 24 that are adapted to cooperate with the plunger 14a when the member 23 is tilted slightly to the left. The plunger 14a will enter one of the recesses between the teeth. Several teeth 25 are provided on the wrench body just below the plunger 14a and these teeth 25 cooperate with the teeth 24 on the member 23 to hold this member against slipping when the member is slightly tilted.

In the form of this invention shown in FIG. 3, the sides of the supporting member 23 provided for supporting the jaw 18 are smooth. In this embodiment the smooth mem- 'ber 24 is quite closely fitted into the U-shaped member 23 so that when the jaws 12 and 18 of the wrench are brought into engagement with the workpiece which is to be rotated, the inside surfaces of the U-shaped member 21 and the side of the handle it adjacent the side of the member 23 frictionally hold the member 23 against slipping so that the workpiece is not released.

It will be noted that both jaw 12 and jaw 18 are shown with work-gripping teeth. However, these teeth may be eliminated if desired and the work-engaging surfaces of the jaws may be made smooth. n the other hand, suitable channel-shaped ciips contacting the sides of the jaws in a resilient manner may be provided to the jaws 12. and 18 to cover these teeth and provide a smooth work-engaging surface on each jaw.

tain amount of friction between the movable jaw carrier and the body of the wrench, that is, between the carrier 16 and the body of the embodiment shOWn in FIG. 1, and the carrier 23 and the body 10 of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. This friction comes into play when the wrench is used for gripping the workpiece and assists the magnetic attraction between the jaws and the workpiece in retaining the jaws in firm engagement with the workpiece when the handle of the wrench is gripped and force is applied thereto for the purpose of rotating the workpiece.

It is obvious that this wrench may be used with nonmagnetic workpieces made of material such as plastic, brass, stainless steel, etc., because the jaws of the wrench are held in gripping engagement with the workpiece by the ratchet action between the teeth 17 and pin a shown in FIG. 1, the teeth 24 and teeth shown in FIG. 2 and the. friction between the movable jaw support 16 and body 19 as described above. Also the friction between thejaw support 23 and body 10 and between theU-shaped member 21 and jaw support 23 plays an important part in holding the jaws of the wrench in firm engagement with the workpiece. For this reason, the wrench may be manually slid against any material without use of a screw or other tightening device, and be used on any non-magnetic object or material, such as, plastic or brass pipe, and/ or plastic, brass or other types of nuts and bolts, whether or not the jaws are magnetic or nonmagnetic.

While we have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that the invention is capable of variation and modification from the form shown so that its scope should be limited only by the proper scope of the claims appended hereto.

What we claim is:

1. In an adjustable Wrench, the combination of a body having a handle, a fixed jaw at one end of said body, a movable jaw opposing said fixed jaw, an adjustable member supporting said movable jaw at one end thereof opposite said fixed jaw, a recessed member pivotally attached to said body adjacent to said fixed jaw, said adjustable member having an elongated shank having a smooth surface engaging a smooth surface in said recessed member, said elongated shank being movable in said recess with one side of said shank being substantially parallel to one side of said body, said fixed jaw having resilient means engaging said one side of said elongated shank to urge it from said sliding contact with said body so that said movable jaw is readily adjusted to grip a workpiece between it and said fixed jaw, said resilient member yielding when the workpiece is gripped to permit said pivoted recessed member and said shank to rotate a predetermined amount around the pivot of said pivoted member, at which time said one side of said shank is moved out of parallelism with said one side of said body and said shank is held by friction against slipping in said recessed member.

2. In an adjustable wrench, the combination of a body having a handle, a fixed jaw at one end of said body, a movable jaw opposing said fixed jaw, an adjustable member supporting said movable jaw at one end thereof, a recessed member attached to said body, said adjustable member having an elongated shank slida'ble in the recess of said recessed member so that said movable jaw is supported opposite said fixed jaw, said elongated shank being movable in said recess so that one side of said shank is substantially parallel to and in sliding contact with one side of said body, at least one of said jaws having magnetic means attracting this jaw to the other of said jaws when a magnetic workpiece is positioned between said jaws, whereby-said :workpiece is firmly gripped between said aws.

3. In an adjustable wrench, the combination as set forth in claim 2 further characterized in that said magnetic means comprises a wafer of magnetic material at- 'tached to said one jaw and said wafer is oriented so that the work engaging surface of said one jaw forms a magnetic pole.

4. In an adjustable wrench, the combination as set forth in claim 2 further characterized in that said fixed and movable jaws and said adjustable supportingmember are made of magnetic material and form a 'U-shaped permanent magnet with said magnetic means.

5. In an adjustable wrench, the combination as. set forth in claim 3 further characterized in that said one jaw is provided with a tough, wear resistant work engaging portion and said magnetic wafer is sandwiched between this portion and the jaw body of said one jaw.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 439,803 1/1893 Glllespie et a1. 811OZ 531,299 12/1894 Blaisdell 81-13O X 729,504 5/1903 McKercher 811OO 1,638,891 8/1927 Stovall 81100 2,270,011 1/1942 Schilling ,81-.--1O2 2,666,352 1/1954 Philips. 2,676,504 4/1954 Brugge etal. 2,777,348 1/1957 Wraight 81186 MILTON S. MEHR, Primary Examiner. 

